After a long winter of training, fitness testing, school, and of course riding, this past weekend was my first race of the season. On Wednesday night I left my home town of Squamish for Vancouver to stay with my friends Alex and Jeff Currie who I was going to the race with. I stayed the night at their place and got ready to head out early in the morning to pick up another buddy and then head down to Spokane for the “Double Down Hoe Down” at Beacon Hill. We left at about 10 in the morning then started the drive arriving at our motel around 8. Friday was the first practice day and after a couple laps I was starting to get the feel of the course, just to figure out I which sections of track were for Saturday’s and then Sunday’s races.

After a lap or so I was good with that and was starting to go fast - The course was sweet! I got a couple laps in on the Sunday course too so I could know what was coming when I was going to start practicing it after the race Saturday. We got up at a good time on Saturday morning so we could get a couple practice laps in before the race, I was feeling good on track and felt confident I could do well if I had a clean run. I got to the top just in time for my race run, so I had no time to wait around and was on track within 2 minutes of being in line. I had a good, clean race run and i was pretty happy with it so then all there was to do was wait for the results. I ended up getting 3rd place and was 0.58 seconds back from 1st, my time put me 12th in pro just behind my friend Alex. After awards we hiked back up to the top of the hill to get a couple practice laps in for Sundays course and get comfortable with the big drop, which by the way, the Legend/Dorado combo dominated. I was feeling good. Check out the pic!

On Sunday we got up nice and early to pack up all our stuff at the motel and get over to the venue. I did a couple laps in the morning and was feeling good again it was a sweet course- it had some jumps, a gnarly bit, a big drop and some pedaling. We waited at the top of the hill that day so we didn't almost miss our starts again. I got down the track with another clean run and I was fairly happy with it with only one spot I felt I could have gained any major time. I ended up in 3rd again this time about 3 seconds back from first. After awards it was time to drive home. It was good having 2 clean runs with good results to start the season since I only had 3 clean races all last season. We left at around 4 and had a stop for dinner, but the roads and weather weren't to great for a big section of the drive so it took even longer then we expected. By the time we got back to Alex and Jeff's and unpacked the truck it was about 2:30am so we all just passed out right away. It was a great weekend and the first time I had gone to the states for a race.

The Legend handled great on the course- pedaling, jumps, corners and the more gnarly bits, (Even the drop to flat!) I'm stoked to be getting my 2011 Chrome Legend soon with the rest of the Team but for now my race-tested beast is still shredding hard. It's great to see all the hard work over winter has payed off. See you at the Races!

Friday, March 25, 2011

We get a lot of industry people asking us about bikes. The people in the know, know what bikes to ride. Chris at Oakley emailed a while back and asked about pricing on a Legend. I traded him a Legend frame for a dozen pairs of goggles and a rain check on a burrito.

His bike looks awesome:

And at just under 37lbs before a new titanium spring and seat he had this to say "… super stoked on how she came out. Haven’t weighed it yet with the ti spring or tioga seat…but should be around 36-36.5 hopefully. More importantly the bike is ridiculously solid and rails EVERYTHING!"

Monday, March 21, 2011

Jason stayed with me in Australia for 3 months at the start of 2010. We did a bunch of filming and photos and since then Jason has continued to travel and explore other areas of the globe. Here is a video Jason made showing some of the on the road beauties over the last year. Awesome.....

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Thanks for all that have applied.If you've sent in a CV [resume] and i haven't responded yet, its only because i've been at the Taipei show. I will reply to everyone who sent in something and let you know one way or the other if you've been accepted.We got far more CV's then spots open, and we're really excited with some of the ones i've seen so far.We need to now get underway and therefore need to close the application process. If you have still been working on something and its been a surprise that i was going to close it I will accept applications for the next 2 days but anything received beyond that will be kindly rejected.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Team Geronimo/Banshee racer Michael Buell was just selected to represent the USA at the 2011 Pan American Continental Championships in Columbia this April. He'll be joined by 10 other US based gravity racers.

Mike will race both downhill and 4X. For more details, check out Vital.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Brett Rheeder showed up to Cali a few days ago, so we started his trip with a few solid step-up seshes. We started talking and both wanted to work on 3ing drops, so we went for a little evening scout mission, stumbling across a sweet spot, and built it the next afternoon. The run-in was a bit sketchy, with a steep sandstone ledge into some soft sand before the boards, but offered plenty of speed into the long soft landing. We noticed a car nearby, and unsure, decided it would be a good idea to leave, cutting the session short. Brett’s still here for a few more days so look for more to come!

The guys at dirt have been releasing a section a week for a couple of months now of their film Finally2... this week it is all bout 2010 crankworx, with the focus mainly on the racing, (look out for Ryan Hunt racing in the giant slalom), and has a section about the slopestyle showing how tough Mike Montgomery is from a great angle as he elbow-drops the mountain!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Mike Montgomery is in todays Pinkbike POD. He is not actually on a Banshee in the picture but he is still kind of a big deal.

And just when you thought the Banshee - Mike Montgomery relationship could not get any more amazing or special Banshee goes and custom paints the rest of Mike's bikes for the 2011 season. Mike has not even seen pictures of his new rides. I thought I would share them with everyone at the same time. Bikes ship Monday (Sunday for you in the West) ... I will give you all Mike's address so you can try to intercept these beauties before he gets them.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

So just like we did with the Legend Mk1, we are now looking for testers to help refine the ride characteristics of the new Prime.

Please send a CV [resume] to jay@bansheebikes.com as a *pdf [no word docs pls]Include> Years riding> Current bikes you own> Bikes you have owned in the past> Technical Expertise> Knowledge of Geometry numbers> Area you ride in, type of trails> Send a couple pics if you want but not necessary and keep them small sized. [links to the pics are even better]> Your stats... height, weight> Your job [bike mechanic, engineer, shop owner] if you think it could be relevant.You will be evaluated, as well, on the quality of the CV so make sure its organized and well laid out. It will indicate that you will be organized and concise when sending feedback on the bike.

The Prime prototypes will all be tested by both man and machine so the preproduction you get will be strong, feel great, and will be a good ride. We are looking for perfection and thats where you will come in.

We are only offering the frame and shock so you will be responsible to sort out the rest of the parts.We offer the Prime at Banshee's cost to the testers. I would love to offer them for free but we feel cost for a great bike in exchange for refining it ends up being a fair deal all around.

If your interested get your CV's off to me and i can provide more details on the Prime test program.

The Large Prime; also known as the first Prime and another name I can not use due to copyright infringement, underwent the first of many changes this week. A set of black links came back from the anodizing factory yesterday. While I was making a link change a box showed up from our friends at Geax.

For the time being the Prime will be rolling with an AKA 29X2.2 in the rear. My brother runs AKA's on his Rampant and he loves them. A good fit for the rear of the Prime.

In the front the Prime is running the Sturdy 29X2.3 (which is also a proto). This tire is pretty beefy and is going to keep things up front under control.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Well, it seems like spring has finally sprung over here in Germany so I decided it's time to build up my 2011 Legend MkII. The bike had been sitting in my room for quite a while but thanks to the massive amount of snow we received this winter, I built it up just recently. It was definitely worth the wait though!

I used to ride a size Medium DH frame in the past but always ended up feeling a bit cramped on the bike, so I decided to order a large Legend. I was a bit concerned that the bike might feel too big but I was pleasently surprised when I finally got the chance to hit our local trails. I felt right at home on the bike - as a matter of fact I was grinning from ear to ear on the very first run. The bike feels very balanced and neutral so it doesn't take long at all to get used to it. In my opinion, the head angle is spot on and the bottom bracket is nice and low without being too low. I won't comment too much on the ride characteristics as I still haven't quite dialled in the rear suspensions, but claiming that my first impressions are very positive would be a huge understatement - this bike rips and it's a blast to ride!

The frame is definitely a work of art. I was blown away by the quality of the frame - the welds are beautiful and the shock canoe looks brilliant. The frame itself looks very sleek and not overly swoopy. In addition to that, I was pleasently surprised to find out that the bike is very quiet, despite the Hope Pro II rear hub that I'm running. The frame features so many neat little details that truly make it very fun to thoroughly check out the entire construction.

Before picking all the components, I decided to go with a proven and durable build that wouldn't weigh too much. Of course owning a light bike is great, especially when posting on one of the many forums, but these days it seems like a lot of people tend to forget that DH bikes are actually meant to be ridden hard. I'd much rather be out riding than in my garage fixing broken parts so while weight savings are great, they must be durable as well.

The bike weighs in at 16.90kg (that equals 37.25lbs, dear American readers) - which I'm perfectly happy with. At the same time I'm confident that the entire part will hold up just fine, so let's see how that goes.

A nice bike would be pointless though without the people running the company truly standing behind their products. So thanks a lot to Keith, Rob, Jay and all the other people involved in making such rad bikes and being such nice and supportative people!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Fernie has recieved a ridiculous amount of snow in the past week, but instead of shredding the pow I find myself riding my bike in a mini skatepark everyday. I just want spring!Anyway my brother and I had a little photo sesh last night and he got 2 really sick shots.

One foot table.No foot can.

Enjoy!Paul

I am hijacking Paul's post ... I am pretty sure I can see Paul in this video ... tight pants, shaggy hair ... how many kids in fernie can really be rocking that style

Mike Montgomery has exploded on the mountain bike scene of the last couple of years. As a coach for the last two years at COC he has never stopped impressing us with his giant bag of tricks, humble demeanor and attitude of "Lets ride bikes and have fun." With the retirement of Gareth Dyer, Mike Montgomery has stepped in as the new Camp of Champions Head Coach.

We are super excited about having Mike as the head coach here at COC. He brings all his knowledge from growing up riding and racing BMX, mountain biking and all his competition experience and what it takes to do well, to the overall camp experience at The Camp of Champions.

To celebrate becoming the new head coach, Mike dropped this on us at 1:45 AM. Progress never sleeps. Neither do we. To avoid the grief we received for the 8 second VOD last spring we added a slow mo section to the video of Mike's new trick, just in case this makes VOD.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Just a quick note to acknowledge that our youngest member of Team Banshee Australia, Lachlan (Lachy) McLaren from Cairns in North Queensland put his Banshee Legend on the podium at the recent Australian National Championships in Adelaide.

Lachy was competing in the Under 17 Male category and had a great run down the mountain resulting in him holding the 'hot seat' for quite some time and eventually finishing 3rd! The Under 17 Male category is becoming very fiercely contested with many talented riders competing for honours and this will carry through to the Junior Division of Under 19 Male next year which will set the scene for some exciting racing.

Lachy is currently holding down 7th position in the Aussie National Series after not being able to compete in the 3rd round at Mount Buller due to Cyclone Yassi trying to wipe his town off the map and flights out being cancelled!! He will head to Shepparton in a few weeks to compete in the final National round which are being held in conjunction with the Oceania Champs and on current form - will go well again. Keep an eye out for him in future result sheets as I am sure he has a big future ahead of him.

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Exceptions belong to images or video that have watermarks that do not belong to Banshee.If you would like to use these please send me a message and I will get you in contact with the owner of said media.